proposed string change to ubuntu-docs

[Matthew East]

On Mon, 2005-10-03 at 17:16 +0100, Matthew East wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-10-03 at 16:58 +0100, Colin Watson wrote:
> > On Mon, Oct 03, 2005 at 04:16:56PM +0100, Matthew East wrote:
> > > We have a string at the moment in the ubuntu-docs package which we would
> > > like to apply to change, i.e. an exception to the String Freeze which
> > > passed several weeks ago.
> > [...]
> > > The string under discussion is the one that appears in the Yelp base
> > > menu, which you get when you click on Help in the menu. Presently it
> > > reads:
> > > 
> > > Unofficial Ubuntu 5.10 Starter Guide
> > [...]
> > > We think that the word "unofficial" should be removed from this string.
> > > 
> > > Advantages of changing the string would be:
> > >  * reflect the major changes and serious work that has gone into the
> > > guide
> > >  * give users greater confidence in the guide
> > >  * avoid unnecessary conflicts with the guide at ubuntuguide.org
> > > 
> > > Now, as we all know, the string freeze is essentially in place to allow
> > > translation of the stuff to go ahead. It is as well to mention at this
> > > point that there has been no translation that I am aware of with regard
> > > to that string, either for Hoary or for Breezy (i've checked the major
> > > languages that I've seen). The string therefore appears in English
> > > regardless of the user's locale. For this reason I am convinced that
> > > there is no disadvantage to changing the string.
> > 
> > If there are no actual translations of that string, either in the
> > package or in Rosetta, then it's fine to change it, subject to other
> > freeze constraints (for instance, changing the string shouldn't cause
> > "interesting" changes in functionality).
> 
> To my knowledge there would be no such changes in functionality.
> 
> > Changes here should happen as soon as possible or not at all, since we
> > have release candidate in three days.
> 
> Thanks for this indication. As far as speed is concerned, we can do the
> change really fast. When it is decided what the string should be, we can
> implement it and Jeff will upload it.
> 
> > > In fact, it goes even further than this. If we were to change the string
> > > to Ubuntu FAQ Guide, this is a string which appears in the translated
> > > document, and as a result we should be able to get a translated string
> > > also appearing in the Yelp menu.
> > 
> > I'm not convinced that "Ubuntu FAQ Guide" is a good replacement for the
> > above string, though. Shouldn't user-facing documentation avoid
> > abbreviations that aren't in everyday use outside the Internet
> > community? Besides, when expanded, "Ubuntu Frequently Asked Questions
> > Guide" seems like a somewhat random collection of words to me.
> 
> Agreed. The problem is that the title of the document is Ubuntu FAQ
> Guide (in hindsight this is indeed a bit misleading), but when looking
> for a suitable replacement for the string, we looked for a string in the
> document itself because this would enable us to have a translated string
> on the front page of Yelp. So we have three alternatives:
> 
> 1. Use "Ubuntu FAQ Guide" and try and get the (existing) translations of
> this string transferred to the yelp page
> 2. If we decide not to translate it, we can have a better string like
> "Ubuntu 5.10 Starter Guide".
> 3. Have a better string anyway and try and get translations done for the
> string ASAP.
> 
> The third option is not normally one I would propose, but in this case,
> there is a consideration which might interest you: the faqguide, being
> incredibly long, has not been fully translated in many languages [1].
> Most languages are still struggling through the translation. For this
> reason I had it in my mind anyway to apply for an update for ubuntu-docs
> which would include revised translations, in a similar way to which the
> language-packs are updated. However, that may be a more major discussion
> to postpone for another day.
> 
> In the meantime, I'll be guided by you as to which of the 3 alternatives
> we should use.
> 
> yours, Matt
> 
> [1]
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/breezy/+sources/ubuntu-docs/+pots/faqguide

Matt, Colin, any word on this?

thanks, Matt

-- 
mdke at ubuntu.com
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF
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